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Andy Ram fell at the final hurdle as his bid to win the men’s doubles title at the ATP World Tour Series was crushed by American brothers Bob and Mike Bryan.

Together with Max Mirnyi, the Israeli was unable to repeat his round robin victory over the siblings, going down in straight sets, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 at the 02 Arena in London.

Serve dominated the opening set. The all-important breakthrough came on the first set point when a fizzing backhand split the Belarusian-Israeli pairing and prompted the trademark Bryan brothers chest-bump.

Maccabi’s football masters (over 45s) completed their Israel tour with a hard-fought victory over Anglo Israel Masters, their third game in five days.

The 14-man squad, which included members of the gold medal-winning Maccabiah Games squad, had suffered two heavy defeats at the hands of Israel Masters, despite some outstanding goalkeeping by Lenny Wyse.

Three goals from Ben Sahar helped Israel go joint-top of European Under-21 Championship Group 6 after beating Bulgaria.

The Espanyol striker opened the scoring after seven minutes and doubled Israel’s advantage midway through the first half. Eidan Vered made it 3-0 before Sahar completed his hat-trick 12 minutes into the second half.

Sahar has agreed to do a five-week stint of army service next summer before serving by giving lectures to Israeli youth.

Four goals from Steve Summers eased Redbridge Jewish Care A into the second round of the Peter Morrison at the expense of Rapid Banta. Steve Gevertz, Adam Stolerman and Lewis Walker wrapped up a 7-0 victory.

London Maccabi Lions A went joint-top of the JC MSFL Premier Division with a 4-1 win at Glenthorne United A. Lee Bibring (2), Louis Basger and Mike Pearson were the scorers.

Played in terrible conditions, which included a second half hailstorm that forced referee Nigel Burns to half proceedings temporarily, the match featured some moments of real class from Hahn who rarely gave the ball away and capped off a memorable display with a thunderous goal.